Comments on: Alabama Slaps a Tax on Fat People

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:55:54 +0000

If we’re going to be charged extra premiums for being smokers, and highter premiums for auto insurance for having tickets and/or bad credit, then yes, charge us an extra premium for being fat. The extra premium can go towards medicare to help pay for all the health problems of some elderly folk due to being obese. I say, bring it on!

By: RC

RC — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:43:19 +0000

Medications that cause a person to be overweight ~ all those so “happy to tax people” thought about this? Example: I was 125 pounds 5′10″ from 11th grade until I was 38 y.o. and then a medical condition in which the medication caused me to gain 80 pounds in 4 months. I have friends who have been on cancer meds which caused them to become overweight. Maybe the drug companies need to test their medications before they start handing them out to make sure they won’t cause a skinny person to become overweight…..

By: Chotie

Chotie — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:13:32 +0000

send infor

By: Fasiura

Fasiura — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:19:00 +0000

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By: robert densen

robert densen — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:02:19 +0000

This is sooo stupid…does the State of Alabama insurance cover the cost of weightless sugery …probably NOT.

By: Brad Cooper

Brad Cooper — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:10:11 +0000

This is a great start – but only a start. Comments above (with a few exceptions) are very accurate. The rule isn’t based around a BMI of >25 (normal = 24.9), it’s 35, which is well above the healthy target and will have rare “false positives” in terms of accuracy due to athletes, weight lifters, etc.

Another key on which there has been little comment is that as long as these individuals are making improvements, they won’t be subject to the fee. That’s good. Any effective employee wellness program (see http://www.uscorporatewellness.com) will include opportunities applicable to everyone – regardless of their current situation in life.

If you like the data, here’s a link to a White Paper on the ROI of Employee Wellness that may be helpful: http://www.uscorporatewellness.com/USCW%20-%20White%20Paper%202009.pdf

Enjoyed the comments,

Brad Cooper
http://www.USCorporateWellness.com

By: CurlyQ1

CurlyQ1 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:06:43 +0000

Even though its satire, this article makes a valid point. I would love to see overweight people charged even more. $100 a month for every 100 pounds overweight they are. Maybe it will cut down on their food budget. Obesity is completely preventable. Less calories and more movement means healthier leaner bodies. Its a simple matter of physics.

Same goes for drunks. For every beer consumed in a month, a dollar more to insurance premiums.

Hey! I like this. Maybe now people will start being accountable for their lifestyle choices instead of calling every weakness in character a disease.

By: Joe Jessome

Joe Jessome — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:27:02 +0000

Cobra comments

For folks considering leaving a job, and it’s health ins. benefits, to do their own thing.

Here is the most important thing to be aware of. If you are going to be responsible for paying for your own health insurance until age 65 when Medicare comes into play and picks up 80 % of any possible medical expenses then you want a PERMANENT PLAN A.S.A.P.
Let me elaborate with an example. One of our clients took out a plan in 8/2001 at 248 per month. That plan,7 yers later, now is at 667 per month.” So, why doesn’t he drop it for another?” Because while on that plan he had a change in his health condition and now the only other plan that he would qualify for is a Group health insurance plan. Which back in 2001 would have started at over 1000 per month.
Cobra really only covers you for that “one big hit.” Then you leave it with a pre existing condition where you either don’t qualify for an individual plan, or in the case of Cobra, as long as you don’t wait 63 days from it’s expiration, where you would be out of the Individual health insurance market … you get to pay double premium.
Cobra was designed only to avoid an immediate lapse in coverage when leaving a group plan. Not to be used any longer than necessary. Especially if you do not have another group plan waiting on you.

Sincerely,

Joe Jessome
Alabama-Health-Insurance-1.com
Smart Health Insurance Inc.
http://www.SmartHealthInsurance.com
800-828-2950
Monday – Saturday until 8:00pm (est)
Sun till 4

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:23:20 +0000

This is what you get for approaching socialism even though history has proven time and again that it ends up in evil. We need a SMALLER government not a larger one. The only thing that it should be responsible for is PROTECTION AGAINST FORCE. That is what true freedom is.
We are NOT free. Money is taken out of our pockets by FORCE to pay for things we do not necessarily agree with.
You cannot eat your cake and have it.
If you want the people to pay health insurance tax, then you have no choice but to be congruent and accept the obesity tax.
You want freedom, then there’s always laisez faire capitalism. Vote for it.

By: Lindsey Harper

Lindsey Harper — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:21:09 +0000

Just like others I too think this is unfair. I do think that we need to get a control on our weight, but this is the wrong way of doing so. About two years ago Alabama was the fattest state in this country. You would walk around the mall and everywhere you would turn there was someone talking about diets. Now out of the blue they want to tax you for being fat. Well, excuse me if i’ve affended anyone for MY problem, but last I checked it was none of your business. You don’t have to look at me, turn the other way. They didin’t make Benjamin Franklin pay taxes to sign the Declaration of Independance. And further more, this “law” is extremely unconstitutional on sooooo many levels. It is also discrimination against us. If they are going to tax fat people for helth issues, than they need to tax people who drink alcohol, smoke ( of any sort), diabetes, asthma, some skinny folks that has weight issues such as belemia, and many more. What I want to know is what about the people who are house ridden and can’t go outside or about the people who are just big boned or actually inheritted their weight problems. Cause there is not much they can do about that. So what I say to this is that the government needs to go back to the drawing board and re-think their strategy, cause I know tons of people here actually in Alabama don’t know about this and when they do and it gets closer to time for it to go in effect they are not going to be happy and will probably petition this. Now as Forrest Gump once said,” And thats all I got to say about that…” .